by John Scheinman

Despite emotional pleas of hardship from trainers and backstretch workers who face eviction this month from Pimlico Race Course, the Maryland Racing Commission narrowly defeated a motion Tuesday that would have forced Magna Entertainment Corp. to keep the historic Baltimore track open for stabling and training this fall.

The commission voted 4-3 against a motion by new member Mary Louise Preis that would have kept Pimlico open until at least September 16, the scheduled date of the next Maryland Racing Commission meeting.

Magna announced earlier this month Pimlico will be shut for training and stabling by August 31 and not reopened until next spring because of sharp drops in revenue at Pimlico, Laurel Park, and Bowie Training Center. Maryland racing has been fighting a losing battle with tracks in neighboring Delaware, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia, which have programs enhanced by slot-machine revenue.

The state of Maryland will vote Noember 4 on a slot machine referendum that would pump millions of dollars each year into the Thoroughbred and harness racing purse accounts.

Until then, Maryland racing is trying to hang on.

Maryland Jockey Club President Tom Chuckas said the closing of Pimlico will save $180,000 a month. The decision was backed by the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association, which voted to go along with the closing rather than cut additional live racing days. The MTHA also wanted to maintain the daily purse distribution of approximately $160,000.

“Don’t you think if we have the money, we’d work to keep Pimlico open?” said Alan Foreman, general counsel for the MTHA. “We need to maintain a program for everybody. We don’t have $180,000 a month to keep Pimlico open. Prior to 1985, the tracks [Pimlico, Laurel and Bowie Race Course] were separately owned. … When the tracks were consolidated [under the De Francis family] in 1985, you had one ownership interest supporting three stabling areas. You don’t have any other racing jurisdiction supporting this in the [United States]

“I can’t argue with the racetrack. We don’t have a solution. I’m sorry to all of you,” Foreman said to the nearly 100 Pimlico trainers and backstretch workers in attendance at the commission’s monthly meeting, held at the state fairgrounds. “We can’t pull a rabbit out of a hat.”

One after another, veteran trainers and track workers stood at the meeting to urge the commission to force Magna and the MTHA to come up with a way to keep Pimlico open.

They spoke emotionally and bitterly of impending hardships, from long, early morning drives after being relocated to Laurel or Bowie, rising expenses, and a loss of stall space.

“The people at Pimlico, it’s not the same as other racetracks,” said trainer Willie Kee. “People live there. They’ve been living there for years. Not just [for] a meet. People live there.

“This board was set up to protect Maryland racing, not destroy it. I want to plead to this board to follow the rules of Maryland racing.”

“I couldn’t stand to see these people, who I’ve worked with and been friends with for 40 years, put through this,” said John Stark, who has trained since 1969. “If we don’t get the slots referendum, we’re all going to be in trouble. What about the people who live at Pimlico? They’re going to be out on the streets.”

Stark and others asked the commission to keep Pimlico open at least until the referendum. They found supporters in Preis and David Clogg, who proposed horsemen at all three locations pay $100 a month to defer the costs of operating Pimlico.

“One thing I don’t like is the horsemen at Pimlico are being punished and Laurel and Bowie don’t suffer this,” Clogg said. “In my mind, to be told you’re getting kicked out in three weeks, you don’t ever get kicked out of leases like that.”

Clogg and Preis suggested Chuckas and the MTHA leadership work out a rent arrangement, but the two sides both said they had met at length before the commission meeting and agreed the decision to close Pimlico was the only option.

“I don’t think the commission can impose stall rent on horsemen,” Foreman said.

Chuckas, visibly unhappy during the meeting when it appeared the motion might pass, said, “You’re basically mandating the Maryland Jockey Club lose ‘x’ over the course of four months.”

After the motion to force the track to stay open was vetoed, Chuckas said, “I’m very saddened by it. The Maryland Jockey Club exhausted all remedies to keep the backstretch open. The goal was to protect Maryland racing and purses.”

Commission chairman John Franzone said he voted against the motion to keep Pimlico open because track management and the MTHA were in agreement on the decision.

During and after the meeting, many in the Pimlico contingent said they felt let down by their leadership.

“Why not have a meeting with all the owners and trainers in Maryland?” said trainer Charles Frock.

Frock said the Pimlico trainers would readily give up three days from the racing schedule and pay rent for stalls to keep the track open. Foreman said during the meeting that the trainers at Laurel and Bowie would balk at paying to help Pimlico stay open.

Asked if he believed the MTHA had supported the Pimlico horsemen as best as possible, veteran trainer Richard “Dickie” Small said, “We have met the enemy and it is us.”

John Scheinman is a Maryland-based Thoroughbred Times correspondent